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| Paper: |
Astrometric-Radial-Velocity and Coronagraph-Imaging Double-Blind Studies |
| Volume: |
430, Pathways Towards Habitable Planets |
| Page: |
249 |
| Authors: |
Traub, W. A. |
| Abstract: |
I describe two double-blind studies regarding the detection of Earth-size exoplanets, as follows. (1) Can we successfully detect Earth-like planets around nearby stars, in multi-planet systems, with the combination of a space astrometric mission such as SIM Lite plus ground-based radial-velocity (RV) observations? This study is now complete, and the answer to the question is yes, Earth-like planets have been detected by multiple teams, in numerical simulations with realistic noise and other factors, subject to specific simplifying assumptions, with accuracies that are close to the theoretically-expected values. (2) Can Earth-like planets be detected and characterized with imaging coronagraphs, in the presence of realistic instrumental noise and astrophysical confusion from exozodiacal dust disks, and with the possible help of information from SIM Lite? This study is about to begin. |
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